JUDGING THE BORDER COLLIE (From a Working Perspective) By Janet E. Larson (About the author: Janet Larson bought her first Border Collie, Caora Con’s Pennant-UD from a dairy farm in 1968. He was of Carroll Shaffner, Fred Bahnson and Edgar Gould breeding. She purchased her foundation bitch, Caora Con’s Bhan-righ, a grand daughter of Gilchrist Spot and Wiston Cap from Arthur Allen in 1972. Four dogs from this original line graduated from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, many have competed in herding trials, earned obedience and schutzhund titles to include: VX-Caora Con’s Black Bison-SchH3, CDX, WC; VX, HCh-Caora Con’s Black Magnum-BH, SchH2, HX, CDX; HCh-Thornhill Meg-HX; Ch.X-Ivyrose Maya-HS, HX; Ch.X-Caora Con’s Ceitlyn-PT, HS, HIAs; Ch.X- Caora Con’s Pendragon-PT, HSAs and Ch- Caora Con’s Ceiradwen-PT. Her Group placing, Nationally ranked, V, Ch.X-Caora Con’s Gaidin Lan-HS, CDX, BH, TT is also descended from these original dogs. She is a strong believer in the “total dog” concept: working ability, temperament, soundness and good structure. All of her cur- rent breeding stock are pure British lines, have Championships with herding titles, dual OFA and PennHip ed, and CERF ed for clear eyes. In 1976, while still in high school, she founded the Bor- der Collie Club of America, and edited Border Collie News for 19 years. She wrote the first edi- tion of The Versatile Border Collie in 1986. The book was runner up for the Dog Writers Association of America Best Breed Book award. The completely revised and updated second edi- tion of The Versatile Border Collie has just been released by Alpine Publications. It has been expanded from 140 to 284 pages has hundreds of new photos and color plates. She has a BS in Animal Science, BA in Chemistry and MEd in Science Education. She served 8 years active duty in the U.S Army, is a Desert Storm vet, and has experience training and handling patrol dogs and detection dogs. Reason for Concern A dog show is supposed to help breeders select breeding stock with the goal of improving the breed. This is unfortunately not always the case. Two breeds come to mind. The German shepherd is a breed I have experience with from a military and law enforcement background. The American show German Shepherd is an extreme caricature of the original working dog: overangulated, ski- jump back, tall with a narrow body, and long almost collie like nose. The police and military now purchase almost exclusively European working lines. The European working lines are sound, with much better hips on average, strong working drives, and good temperaments.These dogs are less angulated, not as tall, more compact, athletic in build, foxy faced and do not wobble coming and going at a trot like the American dogs. They can also get out of their own way jumping and clear- ing other obstacles.The English Setter is another. The field trial dogs are smaller, have shorter ears, tighter flews, and moderate coats which are practical in the field. The show dogs are giants with enormous ears, drooping flews, and hair dripping nearly to the ground. I fear a similar fate is in store for the Border Collie. British vs. Australian type There appear to be two types evolving. The British Working (original and unimproved) type and the Australian (show) type. The genetic drift is so strong the types may even merit being divided into separate breeds such as the American and English Cocker Spaniel. I am not sure we really want this to happen, but it may be too late already. A blending of the British and Australian varieties could be of benefit to both, since both types have been intensively line- bred, although for different purposes. The Australian lines had a lot of crosses to other British herding types in their developmental years, but intensive line breed- ing was used to standardize physical type. The Collie blood used has caused a high incidence of CEA. Another problem is CL, a deadly storage disease where lipid deposits form around the neurons. A positive thing is that the Australian show lines are pretty much free of any British blood from the late 1940’s on. This Old Hemp: Born 1893, Northumbria. Foun- makes them pretty much free of J.M.Wilson’s Cap dation sire for Border Collie Breed. blood. Cap had a brother with “fits”, and he is in the leg- endary Wiston Cap’s pedigree 32 times. Wiston Cap, being one of the top winning trial dogs of all times, and the most used stud dog in the history of the breed, is in virtually every British working pedigree today. With this concentration of blood has come an increase in hip dysplasia and epilepsy. A blending of types would give desperately needed outcross blood. The Australian dogs tend to be too short and chunky, while many British dogs are very leggy and fine boned. I have seen a number of crosses that both looked and worked well. The ideal propor- Wiston Cap, 1965 International Supreme tion seems to be 1/4 Australian to 3/4 British. Champion. Most influential modern sire. They have more coat and bone, but still have a graceful, athletic elegance. Unfortunately both sides are so opposed to each other that separating into two breeds, the Australian Border Collie and British Border Collie may be the only solution. The British Type We must remember the British developed the Border Collie breed. I overheard a handler at a recent dog show tell someone the breed is Australian! The International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS) in Britain is the original registry and developed modern sheep dog trials to help select breeding stock. Interestingly, the founders, James Gardner, James Thompson, R.J.Lloyd, J.M.Wil- son and James Reed were important men in the Collie breed. The formed the ISDS in 1906 because the Kennel Club was not meeting their needs breeding quality working dogs. The name “border” was not coined until 1921 in an article on the International Supreme Championship to differentiate the working from the show collie, and because the best workers were from the Border counties of Scot- land and England to include Northum- berland and Cumbria. The breed became the premier sheep dog in the world as a result, and was exported glo- bally to include Australia and New Zealand. The ISDS registers working Border Collies as small, medium or large, (which vary from 17 to 24 inches tall). Coats are registered as rough, medium or smooth coat. Ears vary from drop to prick, but all Border Collies A smooth coated “lurcher” type Border Collie. work with a distinct style: a desire to run wide while gathering so as not to startle the stock, and a “stalking” creep when approaching and moving the stock. There are several physical types of working Border Collie, all of which are correct and serve specific purposes, depending on terrain and type of stock to be worked. These are: the smooth coated, often prick eared, lightly boned and very fast “lurcher” or “fox collie” type which is an ancestor of the Smooth Collie, Kelpie and Australian Cattle Dog; the large, drop eared, heavy coated Northumbrian type, good for cattle, sheep and droving large flocks - requiring a bigger, powerful dog. These dogs are the major ancestor of the rough Collie, English Shepherd and Australian Shepherd. The pretty, little, foxy faced, fine boned, rough coated Fraser’s Moss, 1923 International Supreme “Highland type” found on the islands, rocky Champion, Northumbrian Type. shores and steep highland areas requiring a sure footed, fast, small dog which is the ancestor of the Sheltie. Recently, as a result of intensive linebreeding on Wiston Cap, a tall, athletic type with prick ears and a rough or medium coat has developed. These dogs are rather setter like in build, very fast and doing very well in herding trial work. In addition, there are many combinations in between. Small, fine-boned highland type. The Australian Type Many top working Border Collie stud dogs were exported to Australia and New Zealand, especially after World War I and before World War II. The blood of these important dogs was lost to the British working Border Collie. These studs were interbreed with females of a variety of types to include the German Coolie, Smithfield Bobtail, Collie and Lancashire Heeler due to a shortage of quality females. In those days it was also felt the male was the most important influence on the pups, Aust. Ch. Tullaview Temptation, a 1980’s show dog. the female being primarily a receptacle. The names of many females were not even mentioned in pedigrees, others were listed only as female from such and such station, and sometimes the breed was mentioned! The offspring of these matings became the foundation stock for the Australian Border Collie, Kelpie and Cattle Dog. A study of their pedigrees shows several key individuals in the ancestry of all three breeds to include such dogs as Bantry Girl. In the 1940s standards were drawn up for conformation of these breeds, and breeding for the show ring started. Show dogs of all three breeds are registered with the Australian National Kennel Council. The type of Border Collie the Australians selected for the show ring was the pretty little shaggy type. Due to influence of Lancash- ire Heelers and Smithfields, the Australian Border Collie has a blocky body, proportionately short legs, big domed skulls, very dis- tinct stops and short muzzles.